I need one these..

 

Yes, same shape other then the neck and I heard it was weighted more then the S, but that might be a rumor.

 

How many here had the shifter-gate recall work done, and subsequently successfully removed their shift *****?

I swear, they glued the **** onto the top of the gear lever! They must have!

I know they notoriously require a lot of elbow grease straight up to remove them, but I simply cannot remove the stock ****! I am nearly thinking it's now impossible due to glue. I opened the sunroof, straddled the seats and pulled with all my might, repeatedly: Nothing! WTF!!??

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Have a sunroof, open it up stand over the **** and pull up with all you have

 

That's what it took on my R56. The F56 was a piece of cake. Popped right off.

 

Unless it's glued!!??

 

Shouldn't be glued from the factory.

 

It wasn't. I think that it was glued during the recall to address people's shift ****+boot+ring flying off mid-shift (various reviewers, including Consumer Reports, had this happen. We all got $100 MINI gift cards out of it).

Now that it's glued, I'm not sure I will be able to remove it -- ever.

 

I just tried again, with motorcycle gloves on, the sunroof open and me straddling the lever. Thanks to MINI's glue fix, that **** is not coming off -- EVER! I'm really pissed-off about this! Whatever glue they used, it's permanent!

 

This could be a good thing. It give you a perfectly good excuse to buy a Cravenspeed short shifter. When you remove the stock shifter you can remove the boot from the bottom and just leave the pesky stock **** attached to the stock shifter. I guarantee you'll like the shifter.

 

If i'm not mistaken, you need to pull the **** off to pull the boot off.

 

Wrap the **** in cloth and use a wrench to twist it? Perhaps that'll loosen up the adhesive.

 

Being round, there's nothing for a wrench to grab, plus it's slotted at the top, so I don't think any rotation is possible.

I had no interest in the short shifter, but I, too, got to thinking that it might be my only recourse at this point. Either that or demanding that MINI [dealership] remove the ****?

 

OK. I need URGENT help from anyone who has replaced their stock ****. I got desperate and gave the **** a little twist with the wrench, and now it's rotating freely!! Can someone who has the stock **** please tell me that the inside core that fits onto the shaft is plastic? Because otherwise, God knows what I've done!!

Worse still, for all of this, I still can't remove it!! It rotates freely, but WILL NOT PULL OUT/UP! I straddled the ball with a massive pipe wrench's arms, squeezed, and pulled up as hard as I could, for over and over. I don't know what else to try!

My stock **** is now damaged, so I'm committed to seeing this through. Sigh...

Please. Any useful tips would really be great.

 

The boot is still attached, and rotating together with the ****.

 

Pop the ring loose from the console. Don't forget to unplug the connector before doing anything else. Lift the ring and boot over the ****, kinda like taking a t-shirt off. On the bottom of the **** is a collar that you can remove to release the boot from the ****. Push the boot down away from the **** and you can continue destroying the stock **** without damaging the shift boot. I'm with Doug W., use a hack saw or a big bolt cutter to take off the top part of the shifter. Then you can install your new Cravenspeed short shifter and the **** of your choice. Or, if you want to retain a stock shifter, I'll send you my pristine OEM shifter for a significant discount.

 

Is there a trick to doing that? There's no obvious way to remove the collar. It seems to be really intimately attached to the ****.

 

It'll pop right off with a wide tip standard screwdriver or a trim removal tool. I used my Leatherman. Just be careful not to tear the boot. Piece of cake.

 

You mean just shimmy it down the shaft, off the **** with a "blade" (I have trim tools)? I didn't realize that was possible.

Thanks for the pic. It's quite helpful!

 

The collar will slide slide down the shaft allowing you to slide the boot down the shaft also. The boot and ring can't be removed completely until you get rid of the ****, one way or another.

 

Cravenspeed Short Shifter.......but I got cheap on a shift ****....$15 weighted, Ebay special. I love it!

**Whoops! Noticed I posted in an F56 thread

 

the pictures i took when i took mine off. hope it helps in any way...

https://goo.gl/photos/YxnWeTNsQDe6UKjK9

 

Thanks everyone SO MUCH for your help, especially the pictures, which helped immensely.

So, what did they glue? The Boot retaining ring was locked tight to the stick, and NOTHING would break the seal. Once I knew that therein lay the culprit, I finally have the **** off, and all is well. Had I known sooner, I could definitely have saved some wasted muscle and sweat in futility.

I may yet buy the Cravenspeed short shifter. I'm intrigued and tempted. But not today. :-)

 

When you pull it off watch the glass for sure and not to punch yourself in the face, it happens, Glad you got it off.

 

Yeah, I've read of a black eye or two.